Promoting open educational resources in Vietnamese higher education.

International conference ""Policy proposals to promote open educational resources in Vietnamese higher education"The workshop was organized by the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, in collaboration with the UNESCO Office in Vietnam, the National Center for Research and Development on Open Technology - Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Vietnam Free and Open Source Software Club. Attendees included experts and scientists from specialized agencies, associations, federations, government and non-governmental organizations, and leaders of library centers from over 40 universities nationwide.

In his opening remarks at the workshop, Professor Dr. Nguyen Van Kim - Vice Rector of the University - affirmed:"As a developing country, open educational resources are of particular significance and importance to Vietnam. They will be a very valuable academic resource, providing strong support for training and scientific research, and fundamentally addressing the long-standing difficulties regarding university educational resources."The University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, is a pioneering university in Vietnam in exploring, researching, and promoting the movement to build and develop open educational resources (*). The Vice Rector of the University expressed hope that the issues raised and discussed in this conference will create an important foundation for the sustainable development of open educational resources in Vietnam to become more substantive, effectively serving education and training in general, as well as the process of self-study, self-research, and lifelong learning for learners.

Professor Dr. Nguyen Van Kim, Vice Rector of the University, delivered the opening remarks at the conference.

Speaking at the conference, Associate Professor Dr. Le Quan, Vice Director of Vietnam National University, Hanoi, stated that, along with the development of information technology, the development of open educational resources is necessary and contributes to encouraging scientific research activities and promoting equality in access to information. Furthermore, developing open educational resources is a means of ensuring intellectual property rights, transferring knowledge, and publishing scientific research results to the entire society.

During the workshop, scientists and experts on OER presented survey reports and proposed policies and organizational plans for developing OER in Vietnamese higher education.

Dr. Nghiem Xuan Huy (Deputy Head of the Science and Technology Committee, Vietnam National University, Hanoi) presented a report on the survey of the use of open educational resources in Vietnamese universities.

A survey report on the use of open educational resources (OER) in Vietnamese universities shows that the level of active use of OER for training and learning purposes is currently quite high. Lecturers and students have utilized OER as one of the important learning resources. However, some barriers in the implementation of OER are identified, including limited awareness of OER, university policies on OER development, concerns about copyright infringement, and a lack of necessary equipment and technological skills. The report also shows that libraries themselves are quite aware of their central role in OER development. However, when considering a community requiring collaboration and coordination among university libraries, the willingness to share resources remains limited.

To develop open educational resources in Vietnam, delegates suggested that a national program on open educational resources should be established to create a basic foundation of technological infrastructure and initial data sources. Based on this foundation, universities will supplement and develop national open educational resources.

Scientists, experts, and leaders of university library centers across the country engaged in lively discussions.

At the same time, delegates also agreed on the need for guidance and direction from relevant agencies to implement the Creative Commons Licenses (CC) system in Vietnam. This includes developing a toolkit to guide the creation, use, and sharing of open educational resources as a handbook for all organizations and individuals wishing to participate in developing these resources, as well as building a national portal on open educational resources encompassing both domestic and international sources.

At the conclusion of the workshop, Dr. Do Van Hung, Head of the Department of Information and Library Science, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, on behalf of the Organizing Committee, summarized the important contents of the workshop. The prominent issues that need to be further addressed to promote the future development of OER are: community awareness and policy mechanisms. In addition, two important target groups emphasized throughout the workshop were university libraries and technology companies. The workshop also demonstrated the connectivity and determination in developing OER through the signing of a memorandum of cooperation on open educational resources between Vietnamese universities.

Signing of a memorandum of cooperation for the development of open educational resources in Vietnam.

The organizers and delegates pose for a commemorative photo.

-------------------------------------------------

(*):In December 2015, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities successfully organized an international conference."Building an open educational resource platform for Vietnamese higher education: policy recommendations, community building, and technological solution development."This is the first workshop in Vietnam to address the issue of open educational resources.